In such vehicles, stores for electrical energy in some models may be individually introduced into the vehicle in a comparatively uncomplicated manner, for example to equip the vehicle for an imminent trip, and may subsequently be removed from the vehicle in order to be replaced by a fully charged energy store. In order to not unnecessarily increase the vehicle weight, the number of energy stores introduced into the vehicle may occasionally be adapted to the estimated travel distance. However, withdrawing electrical energy from multiple stores at the same time entails the risk that so-called charge reversal processes between energy stores of different voltage or states of charge may result in very high currents which could damage the system and/or the stores themselves. This problem exists during operation (energy withdrawal) as well as during the charging process (energy supply).
For this reason, in the related art it is believed to be understood to use so-called “active power management” (controlled connection of batteries with the aid of a battery management system) to carry out the energy withdrawal or the energy input in each case only with regard to a predetermined store of the assembly. When the store has reached a predefined state of charge or discharge, the active power management provides for disconnection of the electrical connections to the store and connection to a second store. One alternative to power management is a passive network, composed of diodes, which prevents undesirable charge reversal processes. However, the latter has the disadvantage that high losses result, and large diodes and possibly active cooling are required.
For an intelligent active power management of a storage assembly, it is necessary that accurate information is present concerning how the individual store may be addressed (connected). In other words, it must be possible to determine which store is situated in which slot of a so-called frame (mounting for the storage assembly). The object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a cost-effective and robust option for identifying the stores of a storage assembly with little outlay of hardware and little energy consumption, and with little additional system complexity.